NGHỆ AN – Prolonged drought in the central Nghệ An Province has left rice fields fallow and local residents without water.

Yên Thành District’s agriculture and rural development sector said that according to their estimates, about 1,500ha in the district were unable to be cultivated, and 3,000ha of summer-autumn rice were left unwatered. Forty to 60 per cent of households in mountainous communes were lacking water for daily usage because wells had dried up.

Lê Đình Hùng, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Hùng Thành Commune in Yên Thành District, said farmers could not grow rice in 234ha in the commune because all eight reservoirs in the commune had run out of water.

More than 30 households in the commune had to dig new wells over the past month to seek new sources of water.

The cost for this work increased because water could only be found at a depth of 50-60 metres, instead of 30-40 metres as usual.

The surging demand for new wells also made it difficult to hire people to do this work, said Nguyễn Viết Tân, head of Sơn Thành hamlet.

“My family has waited for 15 days, but is still unable to hire people to dig a new well,” Tân said.

He said drought was not a new phenomenon in his locality, but it was so severe that people could not grow rice for the summer-autumn crop this year, which was unusual.

Yên Thành District’s People’s Committee has decided to support local residents with VNĐ3-5 million for every new well to ease the burden.

Severe water shortages have also affected nearly 2,000 households with 9,000 people in the mountainous Nghi Văn Commune in Nghi Lộc District.

Nguyễn Thị Thơm in hamlet 20 said her family had to sell their only cow to get money to dig a new well.

“For the past month, we have had to ask for water from other people in our hamlet for cooking. But water sources in the hamlet are also drying up, so we have to spend VNĐ16 million to get a new well,” Thơm said.

Cao Cự Đăng, vice chairman of Nghi Văn’s People’s Committee, said the commune authority had asked local residents to share water with each other and use it economically to cope with the situation. – VNS